De La Soul’s First Six Albums Finally Available On Streaming Platforms

Hip-hop legends De La Soul can finally be heard everywhere.

CNN reports that music created by the trio can now be found on music streaming platforms across the board. The group’s first six albums, released between 1989 to 2001, have been released to Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and several other platforms

Why has De La Soul’s music been missing for years? The group has been going through a decades-long regarding copyright constraints with multiple labels, including their first, Tommy Boy Records.

Things got so bad in 2014, according to NPR, that he group put its entire catalog on its website to download for free for a day. Tommy Boy attempted to put the music on iTunes but the terms didn’t have Soul in its best interest. After public backlash, the label pulled back on the deal.

Things turned around in 2021 after Tommy Boy was acquired by Reservoir Media in 2021, opening a window for the legends to tap into the streaming world. Faith Newman, an executive over at Reservoir, said De La Soul was the first group they wanted to reach out to.

“We vowed to bring their music to streaming, and it means the world to our team to make good on that promise and expose a whole new generation of listeners to one of the most important catalogs in hip-hop history,” Newman said.

De La Soul was headlined by Kelvin “Posdnuos” Mercer, Vincent “Pasemaster Mase” Mason and David Jolicoeur, who died in February. Formed in 1988 in Long Island, New York, the trio has been credited as one of the most influential groups in hip-hop. The group’s debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising lived for 17 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, led by “Me, Myself and I.”

The group’s career featured six Grammy Awards and that iconic first album was added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry in 2010, one of 13 “Rap/Hip-Hop” recordings in the registry.